Pages

Sunday, 27 April 2014

The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 27th of April Edition

EDITORIAL

Hello everyone, hope you're having a nice day. This is today's edition: the most recent court decision and a summary of the Venezuelan situation for the outsider's eye in our News section; in Science, we feature a great Spotlight by Lance Ulanoff (via Mashable) on the virtual reality renaissance; in our Design, Business & Innovation section everything you think you know about the Internet is wrong; Sadie Smith and the story of our beloved Moleskines in our Culture section; In Dog We Trust shares interesting articles about adopted squirrels and introduce us to Cesar Frenchie; and in Our Weekly Procrastination section we invite you to visit the wonderful Chris Marker's exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery.

Happy Sunday and happy reading!

NEWS

Photo: Juan Barreto via AFP.

Firstly, the most important thing that happened in Venezuela this past week was that the Constitutional Court determinedthat the rightto peaceful demonstration, established on the Article68 ofthe Venezuelan Constitution,"is not an absolute right" as guaranteesto life and health. We kind of already knew that, but now, it's legal. Read resolution here (link in Spanish).

This is how people reacted, explained by AFP: "Several thousand people took to the streets of Caracas and other
Venezuelan cities Saturday to protest education reform plans and
restrictions on the right to demonstrate". Read full article here.

Photo via The Objective / El Subjetivo.

And just in case any of the readers of this little procrastinator's newspaper still have any doubt of what type of government is the Venezuelan one, I translated a post wrote by Laureano Márquez in the blog The Objective (link in Spanish) because is a good attempt to explain Venezuela's situation to someone that doesn't live there or that hasn't been following the situation closely. Its oversimplified, but again, if someone wants more information I can gladly provide it or you can check the posts tagged #sosvenezuela and find loads of articles. Please excuse my imperfect English specially with technical/legal terms (any correction or suggestion will be appreciated), hope is useful for you to understand Venezuela a little bit more.

"To explain what happens in Venezuela to someone that has not live there the past 15 years is really complex, because, as the proverb goes: God is in the details. Formally, Venezuela is seen as a solid nation with a solid democratic system that contemplates periodic elections. That is appearance, of course, details tell a whole other story:

• The division of powers is non-existent. All are subdued to one, the executive, leaving the citizens in a state of legal defenselessness.
• Constant practiceofpolitical intolerancetodissenting; opposition members are qualified systematically as "traitors", "fascists", "conspirators" (without ever giving any proofs), which translates in political exclusion and limitationsonthe exercise ofcitizens' rights.
• Crackdown on peaceful protestors; violations to Human Rights, torture, prison, illegal dismissal of congressman and mayors rightfully elected, opposition leaders jailed, etc.
• Lack of a reliable electoral system, as 4 of the 5 counselors are openly pro-government. Absence of an auditable elections record, evident irregularities like double voters, intimidation of voters, electoral centers with results of100% of votes in favorof the Government option, harassment of opposition election witnesses, and a more than evident opportunism in election campaigns with blatant and illegal use of the State's resources.

Also, there is an economic crisis of unpredictable consequences, due to politics like:

• Expropriationsof companies thatin state handsbecamecorruptand unproductive. •
Exchange controlsthat preventfreeaccess to foreign exchange. Governmental controlin this area hasgenerateda recordcorruption, thefigure is close to US$ 30,000,000.
• Highinflation.Inthe official figures, which some experts sayaremade ​​up,itis closeto 57%.
•
Shortage of basic goods and food, had force the Government to establish a ration card. Queues 5 and 6 hours to get oil, milk or corn flour have become every Venezuelan's reality.

All these led to the protests that started back in February and haven't stopped. The student movementhasstagedpeaceful protestsin reaction tothe violence and insecurityin the country, that leaves thousands of deathseach year, kidnappings and robberies.The governmentreactedviolentlyrepressingthe protesters and incitingparamilitary groupsto act; more than 40victimsin two monthsand a total oftortured, arrested and processed students never seen inVenezuelasincethe mostcruel of our dictatorships.

Venezuela's serious governance crisis, not only have roots in the economy, deficient health system (there are no medicines), education, food, but also in the alarminginsecurity that situates Venezuelaas the second mostviolentcountry in the world.

In this climate,a process ofdialogue betweengovernmentand sectors of theoppositionwas initiated.So far ithas generateda lot of expectations, but no concrete results.